Cowgirl - What's that they say? You never feel worse after doing a workout? Just after not doing a workout? Something like that. I try to remember it.

yeah, I used to have to remind myself of this kind of thing when I went to the gym after work, esp. on winter days when I really couldn't be bothered, because I knew I'd feel much better after.I've definitely regretted skipping out on a workout, never regretted doing one...

appifanie wrote:

I think I need to get some special weights like those too because I'm thinking I need more weights (I already ditched my 3s and got 8s so I have 5s and 8s now).

so you have dumbells at the moment? Aside from the time we lose in changing them over, I definitely love our spinlock weights, they take up m u c h less room than a full set of individual dumbells and [at least the ones we got] are way cheaper than dumbells too.

I also really like that for the back exercises [lawnmowers and such] because we only need one weight at a time I can steal some plates off my husband's set to get the right weight : )

My bf watched me to Back and Biceps the other day and it's got him interested in doing some of the weight P90X work outs! I think he just wants to do the Lawnmower move hehe

I used my heart rate monitor during Plyo yest'day and it made me work so much harder, loved it!

Cowgirl wrote:

I hope no one minds me just logging my workouts here with you all.

Of course not! Keep it up :)

DLD wrote:

I've been buying dumbbells on Craigslist -- there seems to be a never-ending supply from people who are giving up on working out. I did spring for a brand new bench though -- I got tired of trying to make everything work with a rickety old chair. So for my birthday I bought a bench off Amazon that inclines and declines, and also folds up and goes under a bed or in a closet if you need the space. It's a super handy thing to have. But I know not everyone will have the space to set up a room and everything. But if you do, a bench and a bunch of cast iron dumbbells will be a great investment. And a pad to put under them to protect your floor -- I got one at Sports Authority that hooks together like puzzle pieces and provides a springy floor for weights and for moving around, running in place, whatever. I spread all the weights I need on the mat before I start so I can motor during the workout.

The mat is a great idea. We'll be setting up our spare room with our treadmill & weights. At the moment I'm using my yoga mat but I'll be getting one of those puzzle ones too.

Thanks Kitteh! I'm pretty excited. I managed to go from the best shape of my life to the worst in 6 months (husband and i fondly refer to it as the Freshmen 15 of the first year of marriage!). Excited to get started!

_________________"So this is guilt, huh? In the past, I've always just counteracted this feeling with other emotions, like sugar or drunk."- Veronica

I just opened the box, and will be starting tomorrow, interspersing it with riding outside and on my rollers. Ready set go!

Very cool. Good luck!!! If I could start all over again, I'd do two things differently: follow the nutrition plan right away, and take it easy the first week. I went "all out" in my first week and I could barely walk after the first few workouts -- I was so sore I needed both arms just to lift a glass of water to my mouth! And I didn't start to follow the nutrition guidelines until I was maybe 6 weeks in -- I so regret that. I think I would have seen results much faster if I had follow the calories guidelines earlier.

We're coming up towards half way and I definitely don't see any change, but I'm not doing it for that, so it's all good.

Does anyone else feel like in phase two the back/biceps and legs/back workouts are too close together? In phase one you had chest/back on day one and legs/back on day five, good break in between, but now we've got back/biceps on day three and legs/back still on day five and we're finding only having one day in between makes it reaaaally hard on the back muscles trying to get through pullups on legs/back day!!Or is that just us? : /

I'm off the schedule but I'm plugging along anyway. Maybe I'll start week 1 over. The floor mat is a good idea. I've got weights and bands that I've collected over the years. I need a pull up bar. I can't get the bands right to feel anything.

I definitely find it hard to do back twice with only one rest day in between. At least in Legs & Back it's kinda a light back workout with only the pull-ups. What I do is go crazy, all-out on Day 3 (the Back & Biceps workout) -- doing as many un-assisted pull-ups as I can, then using the chair/bench for support, and also holding at the top and doing negative resistance on the way down, until by the end my back is jello and I can't even hold myself up for 1/10th of a second. Then on Day 5 (Legs & Back) I just do as many unassisted pull-ups as I can and leave it at that. I keep a little tally at the bottom of the page of "total pull-ups" for the workout and use that as my motivator -- to do 1-2 more each week. I'm shooting for 100 -- maybe in 2012 or 2013!!

By the way if you search the Beachbody forums you can find a guy who made a much nicer workout sheet for Legs & Back -- it looks like the others, and has ALL the workouts so you can keep track of everything. I'd post it here if I knew how....sorry...

I have either a smoothie/weetbix/toast for breakfast, about five pieces of fruit for lunch [munch on them throughout the day at work] and lots of veges, tofu/seitan, beans and some [oh no!] carbs for dinner.

DLD wrote:

Hey Westies,I definitely find it hard to do back twice with only one rest day in between. ...By the way if you search the Beachbody forums you can find a guy who made a much nicer workout sheet for Legs & Back -- it looks like the others, and has ALL the workouts so you can keep track of everything. I'd post it here if I knew how....sorry...

DLD

pleased it's not just me! I wouldn't really call the back portion of legs and back 'light' though, at least not for me! That's a lot of pullups!

I got all our worksheets online, we've not used whatever came with the dvds [so that if/when we want to sell it we can include everything unmarked ; ) ]

I've still been working out! I've just been busy with work, and MoFoing, but I'm still hanging in! I'm now in the recovery week for Phase I. I missed my workout today, but I'll just take today as my rest day and make up my workout Sunday night instead. Either that, or I'll do it tomorrow and Yoga on Sunday so I'm not doing two core workouts in a row.

I really should start tracking my meals again, if nothing else, to make sure I'm eating enough/not eating too much. I though I'd gained four pounds, but it was just that time, and now I'm actually down another half pound. I haven't lost a lot of inches, but I am sleeping better, and one of my favorite fitted dresses looks great, even without control top tights!

I have been doing pretty well, though. I've been eating a ton of vegetables, and I've even done really well when eating dinner out. I think if I actually start tracking my meals again, I'll see even better results.

_________________"Noooo! Karyn, you have to stop posting old Jensen pics. He looks way too smooth in those pics, like if I touch his face it'll feel like silk or bosoms or something."-mixmaster_moIt's Raining Kale

I'm on day 5, and only skipped one workout. Today was yoga, which I hate on a normal basis; 90 minutes of advanced poses wasn't going to happen. I made it to 45 minutes, and decided that on the next yoga day I'll go back to my beginner or cycling yoga dvd's for a while, until I'm ready for Tony.

_________________"So this is guilt, huh? In the past, I've always just counteracted this feeling with other emotions, like sugar or drunk."- Veronica

I'm finally almost through my first three weeks, I'll start recovery Monday! I've been doing my skip day on Day 5 the last two times and it's worked out okay.

So, I'm not sure what my "official" 3 week progress is, but since my first Day 1 (in early September) but a full inch on the largest part of my belly and about an inch from the smallest part of my waist! This is with not really following any nutrition plan to speak of and skimping on the ab ripper several days. I am also really starting to see definition in my arms and shoulders, which is nice...it makes me feel all strong.

Totally slacker mode still - hospital exhaustion - attempting to recover from that and clean up the mess that is my house resulting from that. Phase 3 begins again tomorrow. Or 2nd day of phase 3 begins again tomorrow, whatever. I'm going to bed early. YAWN.

_________________"T-shirts are not allowed in heaven, Karyn. They don't do casual Fridays." - Amandabear

Cowgirl - Kenpo gets easier, I promise! The first time I did star blocks I was so proud of myself!! Such an accomplishment. I try not to watch too much Spongebob, but the idea of Patrick doing P90X amuses me greatly.

_________________"T-shirts are not allowed in heaven, Karyn. They don't do casual Fridays." - Amandabear

How hard are these workouts on your knees? I've been tempted to buy P90X for some time, but I'm worried that it'll be too much for my knees to take and then I'll feel like I just wasted a ton of money :(

I broke my leg right at my knee a few years ago. I got bucked off a horse and when I landed, the top bone pushed the bottom bone down and in a bit. Luckily it has healed fantastically, I'm just afraid of re-injuring myself or causing greater knee problems down the road.

Thanks guys.

_________________"I would love to be president of the United States. It's been my dream ever since I discovered what power was." ~ RandiJM, age 11-ish

gaia,I'm certainly not the expert, having just started the program, but I can tell you I'm following it despite knee problems. In fast, on e of the reasons I'm trying to build the muscles around the knees is to avoid surgery for cartilage issues.

Here's what I do differently- Anything involving the knees I water down dramatically- No weights (for now) and instead of actually lunging or squatting very deep, I just do tiny dips. If after a couple weeks I feel ZERO pain, I'll increase the effort. I also don't do plyo, or any jumping, subbing lower impact moves and/or workouts instead. So far I feel pretty good; better to go safe than inflict more damage. I'm having great fun with it!

_________________"So this is guilt, huh? In the past, I've always just counteracted this feeling with other emotions, like sugar or drunk."- Veronica

I'm on day 5, and only skipped one workout. Today was yoga, which I hate on a normal basis; 90 minutes of advanced poses wasn't going to happen. I made it to 45 minutes, and decided that on the next yoga day I'll go back to my beginner or cycling yoga dvd's for a while, until I'm ready for Tony.

have you done/watched the full yoga dvd yet?The first day we did it I was certain I was going to die, but it's 'only' the first 45 minutes that are the crazy tough advanced stuff then it goes into more balance poses [and yoga belly!] so we find the second half races by once we can get through the beginning.

appifanie wrote:

Totally slacker mode still - hospital exhaustion - attempting to recover from that and clean up the mess that is my house resulting from that. Phase 3 begins again tomorrow. Or 2nd day of phase 3 begins again tomorrow, whatever. I'm going to bed early. YAWN.

sounds like you've had a pretty tough week : /

Cowgirl wrote:

I did Kenpo yesterday morning. Yet another work out I'm not coordinated enough for. Haha.

I wasn't so much uncoordinated as just confused at first, I've never wanted to know about punching people [still don't want to] and so I really didn't know what he meant by all the punch names, but I've figured it out now haha. It's pretty fun, not my favourite workout, and probably the easiest of the whole week.

DLD wrote:

Only thing I don't like about Kenpo is I have to go wipe the sweat off the TV after!

ha, non-kenpo-related, but I just noticed last week when we were doing legs that my husband was leaving a huge back-shaped sweat streak in the middle of our lounge from wall squats. I can't believe I hadn't noticed that before, we're in week seven now!! Needless to say I gave the wall a good scrubbing afterwards : /

I'm on day 5, and only skipped one workout. Today was yoga, which I hate on a normal basis; 90 minutes of advanced poses wasn't going to happen. I made it to 45 minutes, and decided that on the next yoga day I'll go back to my beginner or cycling yoga dvd's for a while, until I'm ready for Tony.

have you done/watched the full yoga dvd yet?The first day we did it I was certain I was going to die, but it's 'only' the first 45 minutes that are the crazy tough advanced stuff then it goes into more balance poses [and yoga belly!] so we find the second half races by once we can get through the beginning.

Good to know! 45 minutes is about when I gave up. I'll give it one more try.

Kenpo tomorrow morning!

_________________"So this is guilt, huh? In the past, I've always just counteracted this feeling with other emotions, like sugar or drunk."- Veronica